Dead Island: Riptide is the second installment in the Dead Island franchise and is a direct continuation of the storyline of original title Dead Island. The main cast of Characters from the first game, Logan Carter, Purna, Sam B, and Xian Mei, all return with an additional fifth character, John Morgan.

There is also a new type of gameplay mode, the Hub Defense mode. This is very similar to a wave-based game with players setting up traps and other defenses to help protect against incoming zombies.